“Just exec in and cat it!” they said. Sure, if you enjoy copy-pasting multi-GB log files. Docker cp exists for a reason.

Copy from container to host

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# Copy file
docker cp container-name:/path/to/file.txt /local/destination/

# Copy directory
docker cp container-name:/path/to/directory /local/destination/

Copy from host to container

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# Copy file
docker cp /local/file.txt container-name:/path/in/container/

# Copy directory
docker cp /local/directory container-name:/path/in/container/

Examples

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# Backup database dump from container
docker cp mysql-container:/var/lib/mysql/dump.sql ~/backups/

# Upload config file to nginx container
docker cp nginx.conf web-server:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

# Extract logs from container
docker cp app-container:/var/log/app/ ./logs/

# Copy build artifacts from build container
docker cp build-container:/app/dist ./dist/

Notes

  • Works with running or stopped containers
  • Preserves file permissions by default
  • Use container ID or name
  • Paths must be absolute inside container